Angelo Russo, 55, has pleaded guilty over the February 2017 death of David Calandro, 43, who was shot in front of his two young sons while sitting in his ute.

Russo says he tripped on an eggplant while holding his loaded double-barrel shotgun at his Tatura farm in the Goulburn Valley, with experts confirming the firearm had a faulty safety switch meaning it was capable of being fired without the trigger being pulled.

Justice Michael Croucher is due to sentence Russo in the Supreme Court on Friday.